Testing Out of Class: Part One

Today I began my quest to a) get out of taking a snoozer of a class and b) saving some moolah (the test costs $10 as opposed to almost $300 for a few credit hours). I took part one of four of the test for my general education Computer Science requirement. The test covers four different windows based software programs and today's section was over Access.

I have never, ever used Access before.

Needless to say, I was quite nervous about this test. I'm pretty computer savvy, but I had no idea how the test would operate or if the training software would be adequate preparation. OR if my brain would function properly (that's always questionable).

I had to pass with a 70% and you can only take each section of the test twice (and you can't move on to another area until the first is passed). Scary!

The test was almost game-like. First of all, it was timed (50 minutes). Second of all, if you made three wrong moves, you were out (well, you missed the question). So, when I actually answered correctly, I had to restrain myself from doing fist-pumps in the air....probably because I seemed to be missing so many! There were SO many times when I was just on the brink of getting it right, but I had used up my three wrong moves. OUCH! There were other times when I had one wrong move left, and I managed to pull out a winner. WAHOO! Oh, and don't even think about trying to use the "Help" function if you are stuck...that would be a definite "strike!"

Wanna know my score? 70%. Exactly 70%! You should have heard the major sigh of relief coming from my cubicle.

What have I learned from this fiasco? Actually use the training software; it really does help (even if it is somewhat annoying to go through). Also, schedule your test for later in the afternoon so you can go through your training software one last time before the test. This totally saved the day for me.

I kept thinking, "If I have only missed one more...." Instead, I switched gears and treated myself to some Mexican food. :)